Micron surges 19% to $1.4 trillion, overtaking Meta and Tesla

Micron Technology joined the ranks of the world's most valuable companies after a 19% surge pushed its market capitalization past $1.4 trillion.

Micron Technology Inc. surged 19% to a record, pushing its market capitalization past $1.4 trillion and overtaking both Meta Platforms Inc. and Tesla Inc. for the first time.

"The magnitude of this move reflects a market that is still underpricing how tight memory supply is going to stay," said Quinn Bolton, an analyst at Needham & Co. who raised his price target on the stock to $1,550 from $500.

The rally came a day after Micron reported fiscal third-quarter results that exceeded already-elevated expectations. Revenue more than tripled to $33.5 billion, while gross margins expanded to about 81%, up from 39% a year earlier. The company's high-bandwidth memory capacity remains sold out through calendar 2026, and analysts project earnings per share of $20.81 for the quarter, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

The milestone underscores how the AI infrastructure buildout has reshaped the semiconductor pecking order, elevating a memory-chip maker that traded below $100 a year ago into the ranks of the world's largest companies. With HBM supply constrained through 2027 and hyperscalers continuing to write large capex checks, Micron's challenge now shifts from proving demand exists to delivering on production at scale through its $100 billion domestic fab buildout in New York and Idaho.

The stock's 19% jump added roughly $220 billion to Micron's market capitalization in a single session, making it one of the largest single-day value creations in the semiconductor industry. Trading volume surged to multiple times the 20-day average as institutional investors rotated into the memory sector following the earnings report.

The rally also lifted the broader semiconductor complex. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index gained ground as investors reassessed the memory market's pricing power. DRAM spot prices have risen 52% since January, and NAND pricing is also climbing, reflecting a supply-demand imbalance that memory makers had not anticipated when the AI boom began in 2024.

Micron's ascent past Meta and Tesla in market value marks a symbolic shift. Both companies were early beneficiaries of the AI theme — Meta through its massive data-center buildout and Tesla through its autonomous driving ambitions — but Micron's position as a direct supplier of the physical components powering AI inference has given it a more immediate revenue trajectory. The company's forward price-to-earnings ratio of about 19 times remains below the sector median, even after the rally, suggesting some analysts see further room to run.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.